We've Met
by teamfreewill82
Summary: Hi, this is my first posted fic for this fandom so I apologize if this isn't like totally brill. I really liked my idea for it though, so please read and review. :) Thank you. Teen for slight language.


**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** or anything pertaining to **_**The Vampire Diaries**_** except for my own writing. **

Hiiiii! Delenaaaaaaa! Review please!

We've Met 

Stefan walked silently into the room, his hands behind his back, the picture of calm and collected. Damon was seated in his chair, writing in a journal, but looked up upon hearing his brother enter. "You know, this is actually sort of calming. I like it," he said, pausing when he noticed Stefan's demeanor. "What's with you?" Stefan shook his head, as though he didn't know what Damon could mean. "Nothing. I just have some good news," he informed him. "Oh, really? What about? You and Elena getting hitched?" His brother chuckled, still eerily composed. "No. I talked to Elena. I told her that I still love her."

"And she jumped in your arms, all is well. How is this good news? Or did you mean good news for you, not me?" Damon asked, his eyebrows raised. "May I continue?" Stefan inquired patiently. "By all means," Damon gestured, "continue."

"I told her to look me in the eye and tell me that she doesn't have feelings for you. Because I had previously accused her of also being in love with you. She couldn't do it. She told me that she doesn't know how she feels."

Damon was silent. "So there is good news, brother. For you," Stefan told him, turning to exit the room. He stopped, though, and looked back at his brother. "By the way, I think you should be honest with Elena. About your past, before she chooses to be with you. So she knows what she's getting into."

"Elena knows what she'd be getting into, brother." Damon stood. "She knows everything about me." Stefan faced him, then, completely, an amused smile playing at his lips. "Oh, does she now? Does she know that you met her the night her parents died? After that party?"

Damon froze, clearly having had forgotten that night. "No. And she doesn't have to." Stefan, eyes squinted, said, "I don't know, Damon. I don't think Elena would appreciate the fact that you compelled her; you know how much she hates that."

"I'm aware, Stefan" Damon snapped, speaking his brother's name with disdain. "And what? You gonna threaten me? Let the cat out of the bag?"

"No, Damon. I just want Elena to be happy. Do what you want. You can trust that I won't be telling her anything."

Stefan left the room, leaving behind a very conflicted Salvatore brother.

In Elena's living room, she and Bonnie had begun to discuss what to do about Alaric, if the herbs didn't work to help him bury his homicidal-self. The conversation had taken a different turn, however, when the plans had brought up the Salvatore brothers.

"And I told him that I didn't know how I feel. Was it wrong of me to drop that on him? He's so fragile right now, with all of this human blood stuff," Elena went on. "Of course not, Elena. He needs to know how you feel. Always," Bonnie assured her. "And if… you're torn in some weird love triangle with two brothers - very classic, by the way -than he needs to know that, even through all of this."

"So why are you girls talking about me and my little bro?" Damon asked, stopping just outside of the living room and resting his shoulder against the frame of the large white frame. His arms were crossed over his chest. "Why were you listening to our conversation?" Bonnie retorted, unflinchingly. "Because I can." He gave her his usual tight look, expressing his annoyance, which she paid no mind.

Bonnie continued, still ignoring his presence. "Maybe you feel a stronger connection to Stefan because you met him first." Damon made a sound in his throat, and the girls looked at him. He opened his lips slightly, as if to say something, but then closed them again. "What, Damon?" Elena questioned. "Nothing," he assured her, flashing a closed, tight-lipped - if somewhat sarcastic - smile. "No." She shook her head. "Tell me what you were going to say, Damon."

Both girls eyed him expectantly. "Fine. But you're going to hate me. Elena, you didn't meet Stefan first. You met me." Elena frowned, confused. "What? How?" Damon sat down, sighing. "Alright. That night, you snuck out to that party. The night your parents…" He didn't have to finish. Elena nodded hurriedly. "Yes?"

"You were on the phone with Bonnie when you walked out into the street, where I'd been waiting for my next… meal," Damon said, uncomfortably shifting. "I thought you were Katherine… and went to see you. But of course you had no idea who I was, let alone what I was talking about, so I left it alone. When I saw your parents car I compelled you to forget meeting me, and you left with them. You know the rest," he finished quietly.

Elena had been staring at him in shock, as well as Bonnie, the entire length of his little speech, and now she said, "Are you fucking kidding me?" Damon's head whipped up. Elena rarely swore, especially to this extent. "No, I'm not. I met you before you met Stefan at school that first day. To be fair, he knew about it, later, of course. He said it was my responsibility to tell you about that night or something. So there it is."

"You both have been lying to me. Where would we be, right now, Damon-" Bonnie silently snuck from the room, leaving the pair alone. Getting between them during an argument was the worst idea she could think of. "-if you hadn't lied to me, if you had just gotten to know me?"

"I don't know, Elena, I'm sorry. You just looked so much like Katherine, I couldn't talk to you any more, knowing you wouldn't really _know_ me-"

"Why is everything about that _bitch_? You _used_ me! For my looks and for my blood, Damon! How could you _do_ that?"

"Elena, I didn't know you at the time; you were just another human, and as soon as you left, I ditched town! I didn't know that Stefan was there at all or that he saved you from _dying_!"

Elena sank down onto the couch, having stood up during her rant. Her lips remained parted, but she couldn't think of anything to say. "Elena, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- this is why I didn't tell you. Because I knew you would react as though I-"

"Don't even say it, Damon. Because this _is _something terrible. You messed with my mind!"

"You didn't even _know_ about vampires, Elena! You didn't know Stefan; you didn't know me; nothing! I didn't talk toy uo that night and make you forget me already knowing how much you'd come to mean to me or that I'd fall in love with you!"

Elena dropped her head into her hands. After a few seconds, she said, "So… I knew you before Stefan." It was more of a statement, as Elena tried to absorb all of it. He only nodded. She stood again, using her thighs for support. Running her hands over her arms, a nervous habit, she told him, "I'm going to bed, Damon. You can let yourself out."

When she was halfway up the stairs, Damon followed her. "Elena," he said. She paused, not looking at him. "Have I lost you forever?" The familiar question that had been asked what felt like such a long time ago struck home, and Elena found she couldn't force herself to move. She had told him so long ago that yes, he had lost her forever. And then she had forgiven him, hadn't she? Because no matter what he did… Elena couldn't hate him. Nothing could make her hate him. Nothing.

She now looked back at him, and she stepped slowly back down the stairs. She walked up to him and held his face between her hands. "No, Damon. You haven't. I am upset, and hurt, but… I can understand that you were trying not to confuse me even more than usual. And though I am far from fragile, and can handle pretty much anything that's thrown at me now… I appreciate how much you care about me."

Elena's eyes flitted over his face for a moment, deliberating. Then, she leaned forward, placing a light kiss on his cheek. Before he would have liked her to Elena pulled away; his eyes had closed at her touch, and now, he opened them to see her dark brown eyes.

"Goodnight, Damon," Elena said quietly, allowing her hands to fall from his face. Damon stood there, watching her as she made her way back up the staircase. When she was out of sight, he opened the front door. With a last glance at her bedroom door and a murmur of, "Goodnight, Elena," he made his way again into the dark night.


End file.
